Talking to teens about substance abuse

If you ever used pot or any other substances when you were younger, have you tried to avoid talking to your kids about drugs because you worry about getting THE question? This article by Dr Perri Klass [4] has some of the best advice I have ever seen about how to keep the conversation focused on your teen, even if you did use drugs when you were younger.

I think most parents are aware of some of the risks associated with teen alcohol use [5]. Drinking and driving is certainly a concern, as any parent whose child has doed or been injured in a drunk driving accident can tell you. Teen drinkers are also more likely to become alcoholic as they get older (though we aren’t sure if drinking early causes alcoholism, or if teens who are at risk for alcoholism learn to drink at a younger age). Teens who drink are also at higher risk to kill themselves, to be sexually assaulted, and to engage is higher risk sex. But newer evidence is showing other risks, such as permanent brain damage [6], especially for heavy drinkers. Our brains continue to develop into our 20s, so heavy teen drinkers may have permanent cognitive impairment.

This turns out to be an issue with marijuana [7], too. In Denver and Colorado we have recently had some ballot initiatives trying to legalize marijuana, and some of the election rhetoric seemed to claim that marijuana is much less harmful than alcohol. For the developing teen brain, that is certainly not true. Marijuana seems to cause the same long term loss of cognitive function, at least for heavy users. I think most adults can remember someone they knew in high school or college who always seemed impaired–turns out that may have been permanent, even if they stopped using drugs.

Pediatricians try to talk with teens at their annual physicals about some of these issues, and to help them understand why they should avoid drinking and drugs. But teens spend a lot more time with their parents than they do with their doctors, so it is important for parents to talk about it too. Dr Klass has some great thoughts about how to keep the dreaded question (“did you use pot?”) from getting in your way.